I spent more than four years at Klaviyo, starting as a BDR and working my way up through the sales organization. During my conversation with Ed Hallen, Klaviyo's co-founder, I had the opportunity to learn what it was like before I got there.
As Jared and I build First Touch, we're constantly drawing lessons from our Klaviyo experience. But hearing Ed recount his journey as just 2 founders with some crazy ideas and a lot of ambition, it reminded me of the importance of comms between product, marketing, and sales. Everyone needs to be rowing in the right direction but all be nimble enough to pivot.
The numbers tell an interesting story:
All with just two people. No venture funding. No sales team. Just Ed and Andrew (AB) solving problems and building a scalable system.
Unlike most startups that begin with a specific problem to solve, Klaviyo started with a capability: they knew how to solve problems with software. They believed that if they could find someone with a problem and solve it well enough that they'd hand over a credit card, they could build a real business.
This approach led to rapid pivots in the early days. Every couple of months, they'd shift who their end user was and what the product actually did. One early idea focused on helping software companies reduce churn through a walkthrough platform. They got tons of positive feedback but few credit cards. Instead of pushing forward, they pivoted.
Ed shared a perspective that challenged my understanding of early-stage sales: "The way to think about sales for any startup until you have hundreds of customers is really as a learning machine."
Every sales call was an opportunity to:
The breakthrough came during a dinner with a suit maker from Hong Kong. He was manually analyzing customer data to send targeted emails about reorders. That conversation revealed the power of combining their customer database with messaging capabilities—a realization that would shape the direction of Klaviyo.
Early on, Klaviyo served both e-commerce and software companies. They could have expanded into multiple verticals—hospitality, retail, you name it. Many advisors pushed for rapid expansion.
Instead, they made a counter-intuitive choice: double down on e-commerce. What was supposed to be a six-month focus became their core market for years. This decision allowed them to:
Ed's insight: "The more you can simplify and streamline to prove out a viable business, the better off you are."
Their first hire didn't come until they hit meaningful revenue. Why? Because they automated everything possible first. The hiring philosophy was clear:
When they did start hiring, they approached it methodically. The first wave included:
The market has evolved dramatically since Klaviyo's early days, but the core principles still apply:
As we build First Touch, these lessons are foundational to our approach. Today's market might be different, but the fundamentals of building a sustainable sales organization haven't changed: Focus on learning, automate aggressively, and build for the long term.
This is just a glimpse into the deep insights from my conversation with Ed Hallen. To hear the full discussion about Klaviyo's journey from bootstrap to IPO, listen to the complete episode of The Revenue Room above.
